Help Wanted
by purpleflavour
Summary: The fire burned through his veins, binding him with invisible puppet strings in the hands of a beast. "Try and stop me."
1. Help Wanted

warnings: gore, killing  
>disclaimer: still don't own anything<p>

* * *

><p><strong>Help Wanted<strong>

Misty flames danced around the edges of his vision, tinting the world in a blue haze. The fire burned through his veins, binding him with invisible puppet strings in the hands of a beast. He watched as the flames razed everything to the ground, pale digits coming to rest against the bare throat of a poor soul who survived the incineration. He could feel the fluttering pulse racing beneath his fingertips.

'_How fragile,' _he noted impassively, crushing the delicate thing in his hand with no remorse.

"Rin!"

He turned around and saw a group of people in black, militaristic coats, holding up various weapons. Exorcists. And in the front, leading the group, was _him_.

The name ghosted out of his lips. _"Yukio…"_ His eyes lightened in relief.

"Rin!" Yukio shouted, managing to control his voice even when faced with the macabre scene. "Let her go."

Rin looked down at his hands, at the mangled throat in his hands, and the charred remains of bodies lying around him. Then, he looked up and grinned. "Try and stop me."

Blue stared resolutely into blue, and Yukio's lips tightened into a grim frown. "We don't have to do this, brother."

'_How hypocritical,' _thought Rin as the other boy drew his guns from their holsters, motioning for his fellow exorcists to stand down. They did so reluctantly, the desire to protect one of their own warring with the deep, instinctive fear at the sight of Satan's blue flames. Or rather, Rin's blue flames.

A sudden overhead swing aimed for Yukio's head caught the onlookers off guard, many of them flinching at the cloud of dust that was stirred up at the powerful blow. They could hear the sound of metal striking metal and fast volleys of gunshots, and as the dust settled, they found both parties panting, but unscathed.

Rin drew in deep, ragged breaths. "Stop me." He was still smiling, but Yukio could sense a sort of desperation in his voice that wasn't there before. Icy blue now held a manic edge. The younger twin locked his jaw and shoulders, tightening the grip on his gun, and braced himself. Then, he fired.

A sudden, sharp pain pricked the flesh beneath his ribcage. Rin looked down, and saw red seeping through his shirt. Even with a bullet through his chest, he felt no pain. A hand slowly reached down to touch the proof of his mortality. That should've been his first clue, but really, he knew he had at least partial control over his body. Enough control to have stopped himself from doing anything he did not want to do. Or maybe he _wanted_ to watch the life seep out of their lungs, watch the light die from their eyes? Through the rush in his ears, he saw two exorcists come forward to support Yukio as he staggered back.

One of the newcomers, a black-haired stranger, shouted at the demon-boy. "Rin, end this right now! It's not too late, we can still help you!"

He faced his brother with a smile on his lips. Yukio blinked, and the unnamed exorcist who spoke fell to the ground beside him, blood gurgling from a ring of small, deep gashes along his throat. Rin grinned, and in a flash – _'When did you become so fast, so far ahead of me, brother?'_ – appeared inches in front of Yukio, revealing sharp teeth stained with blood. Yukio could feel his heart beating harshly, so hard he couldn't help but wonder if the skin would be bruised blue and black by tomorrow, against his chest. Rin made a show of licking his lips, savouring the taste of their sacrifice.

Yukio jerked his arm up and shot a bullet into Rin's chest. The demon-boy's pupils dilated, but he did not falter. His hand slowly reached up to clutch at his brother's shirt as Yukio stared with wide eyes at the bleeding wound. With his other hand, Rin clawed through the frozen exorcist still supporting Yukio, who was paralyzed with fear at the blue flames licking the demon-boy's body. He did not make a sound as his guts spilled out onto the floor.

Yukio suppressed a scream, and fired round after round of bullets at Rin, each finding a mark on his body. Still, Rin did not let go of his shirt, eyes unwavering in their intensity. Haunted blue orbs gazed steadily into Yukio's.

"_Please, stop me."_

* * *

><p><strong>an**: possible twoshot. does anyone want a second chapter?


	2. Now Hiring

**disclaimer: **still don't own AnE

* * *

><p><strong>Now Hiring<strong>

"… Very unstable… constant exposure to the blue fire… violent tendencies…"

Yukio ignored the doctor's warnings and closed the door gently as he let himself in, determined not to let his anger get the best of him and slam the door like a petulant child. Nevertheless, the tight grip he had on the door handle had his knuckles turning white. He didn't notice. What captured his attention was the boy on the bed, skin pale and gaunt with exhaustion, dark hair falling limply around his head like a black halo. Checking over the clipboard at the end of the hospital bed, he saw that the doctors had administered a dose of morphine just three hours ago. Rin was sleeping at the moment, but Yukio could tell it was fitful dozing at the most, judging from the crease of his eyebrows and the bags under his eyes. For the first time in his life, Yukio could truthfully say that he looked like his twin. Constantly haunted by the words his brother had told him before he was subdued – _"Please, stop me," _– and the worry he felt for him, Yukio was unable to catch a wink of sleep.

The doctors, even those who knew of his ancestry, had marvelled at the demon-boy's healing capabilities. They said that the most difficult part of the surgery was pulling the bullet out of closed wounds. They had no idea how the skin could have healed over the bullet holes so quickly without any sign of infection. They told him that taking a bullet through the heart should have resulted in instant death- then again that's what they had said about the blue fire too.

He sat down heavily on the garish orange chairs provided by the hospital. The seat and back was hard and uncomfortable as hell and his guns were digging into his hip from where he had shoved them haphazardly into their places while rushing to the ICU, but at this point, he didn't really care.

After who-knows-how-long of staring at his bed-ridden brother – finally quiet, for once, though not under the best of circumstances – a nurse entered the room with an IV bag in hand.

"Hello," she greeted politely. "You must be the brother. Don't mind me, I'm just here to change the IVs. Heaven knows this young man needs the morphine." She grabbed the clipboard at the end of the bed and jot down the time and adminstered dosage, and set off attaching and re-attaching the bag of liquid medication. "I cannot even begin to fathom how he could have strained his tendons that severely and still expect to make a full recovery. I heard that he burst a couple of arteries trying to stop his body from moving. Aren't you supposed to die from that?"

'_I don't know. You're the medical professional here, not me,' _Yukio thought cynically.

The nurse, seeing the venomous look cross the boy's face, wisely decided to stop talking. She finished the rest of Rin's check-ups and exited the room quietly.

Yukio gritted his teeth together in frustration. He had vowed to never let his loved ones suffer for his sake, and now they tell him his brother ruptured arteries and tendons to stop himself from _killing _him?

"I'm such a failure at protecting you, nii-san," Yukio chuckled mirthlessly. "I should just give up, ne?" He stood up abruptly and turned around, unable to stand looking at what his existence had caused. He took off his glasses and rubbed dry eyes, a habit developed as a child when he wanted to cry but stubbornly stopped the tears from falling. Taking a deep, rattling breath, Yukio settled his glasses back on his nose and took two steps away from the bed-

A hand grasped his wrist weakly. "Not your fault," Rin rasped. "Don't go. Please."

Yukio startled, not expecting his brother to have been awake. _'The morphine must have been worn off by the flames. Is he in pain? Does he even _feel _any pain?' _A vision of his brother as he stood calmly before him with multiple bullets shot through his body flashed before his eyes, and he shuddered unconsciouly. He relaxed his stiff posture forcefully and fixed a fake smile on his lips to face his brother. One look at his brother doped up on medications with a contrite grin dissolved all of his guilt at his failure.

"Not your fault," Rin repeated drowsily.

"Thank you, nii-san," he said softly as a single tear escaped his eyes. His brother's forgiveness meant much more to him than anyone else's words of compassion. Yukio wiped the tear away with the back of his hand, and said in a more casual tone, "Besides, I'm the only one that can stand your idiocy for any long period of time."

But Rin was already asleep.

::

Yukio spent three days and nights - _sixty-eight hours twelve minutes three seconds, four seconds, five seconds_ - by Rin's side, staring fixedly at his brother's face, silent and unmoving.

* * *

><p><strong>an: **this was harder than i thought. I might rewrite this someday.  
>Pyschiatric wardprison next? Or no, I should just stop here because it's descending into a messed garble of words?


	3. Commission

disclaimer: still don't own AnE

* * *

><p><strong>Commission<strong>

He tightened his fingers around the bars and pressed his nose through the spaces between, whining softly as the door to his cage was shut firmly, leaving him in complete darkness. There were no windows, no lights, and most importantly, no way to escape.

Blue flames burst into light above his head and he barked happily, finally able to see where those humans had dumped him. It was an alcove in a dark, cave-like setting, with vertical steel poles forming a door that barred the only entrance, bare except for the straw covering the ground. The cage itself was shut off with heavy iron doors, letting no light in and no light out.

Having the location of his cell sorted out, he turned his attentions to the unnatural hide in a colour he had only seen on autumn leaves and some foxes – _'…tasty'_ – that they had forced on him. It covered his whole body like a second skin, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. He pawed futilely at the skin-that-wasn't-skin, accidentally snagging a sharp fingernail in the material and managing to rip a wide gap on the sides. He maneuvered himself through the large tear and huffed softly as he freed himself from the abnormal thing, ignoring the patches of white covering various parts of his body. He let his tail swing wildly with glee, but it slowly stopped as he recognized his biggest problem: escaping from his prison.

With determined eyes, he rammed his whole body against the bars. They did not even rattle at his weight, but he was not to be deterred, so he tried again. And again. And again.

He whimpered in pain as he watched the pale strips on his arms slowly bleed into red. He crawled into a corner of the cave, dragging the previously discarded piece of fabric and gathering all of the straw to his spot. Judging it to be soft enough, he flopped down carefully onto his makeshift nest, mindful of his wounds, huddling into a ball to try and conserve some heat.

He squeezed his eyes closed as the blue light bathing the walls grew dimmer and dimmer, until he was once again surrounded by darkness.

'_It's only dark because I've closed my eyes,' _he thought unconvincingly.

**::**

"Good morning, Rin nii-san!" Yukio said cheerfully as he placed the cartons of take-out on the floor.

Pointed ears perked up at the sound of a familiar voice. The boy behind bars uncurled from his position and stretched leisurely, mouth stretching wide open in a silent yawn. He slowly drifted closer to the edge of his cage, mouth watering at the scent of food.

Yukio chuckled at the dreamy look on his brother's face. He unwrapped one of the boxes labelled _sukiyaki_ – Rin's favourite – and opened it before sliding the entire box through the bars of the cell. He picked up his own chopsticks daintily and smiled as Rin pounced on the offered food with his bare hands, shoving the pieces of meat - seemingly unmindful of the heat - into his mouth like a starving beast. The boy licked his fingers clean like a cat after finishing his meal, staring at Yukio as the younger boy picked at his _udon _noodles absent-mindedly.

Rin's head tilted to the side for a moment in contemplation before suddenly straightening, as if having reached a conclusion. He crawled to his little nest and pulled it over by the side of the metal bars separating him from his twin. He plopped down onto his bed and whined with blue eyes wide and imploring. Yukio sighed with indulgence and placed his hand on Rin's head. Rin purred happily as his brother rubbed his scalp firmly.

"_Thank you for your assistance, Okumura-san," _a tinny voice rang through the cave. _"We have retrieved the data and performed the necessary analysis. You may exit the room through the A-2 entrance."_

Rin's shoulders drooped, understanding that his brother had to leave, and Yukio stroked his hand affectionately through Rin's hair once more in assurance. "Goodbye, Rin nii-san," he said softly. "Get well soon."

The boy licked Yukio's palm in farewell.

Rin's doctor-cum-psychiatrist was waiting for Yukio on the other side of the door. "He'll never get better. You know that better than anyone else," he commented lightly, eyes fixed on his clipboard as his hand scrawled furiously across the paper.

Blue eyes glinted coldly like shards of ice. "I don't pay you to talk."

Yukio walked out of the detainment center as the doctor clutched his broken nose, spewing curses at the boy's back.

* * *

><p><strong>an**: how anticlimactic. It's been sitting on my computer collecting dust. I've changed it so many times, but I'm still not completely satisfied with this version. Whatever. Enjoy.  
>(Who's the crazy one now?)<p> 


End file.
